According to art. 4 WEL the name under which a spirit drink is sold, shall be the name laid down by whatever laws or regulations apply to the spirit drink in question or the name customary to the ultimate consumer in the Netherlands. No trade mark, brandname or fancy name may be substituted for the name under which the spirit drink is sold.
Many types of distilled spirits are defined in the regulations of the Productschap and in the above-mentioned EC-Regulation no. 1576/89. Distilled spirits with a minimum alcoholic strength of 15% vol or more, which do not meet the definitions laid down in the EC-Regulation 1576/89, should be described as: "gedistilleerde drank" (spirit drink) or "gedistilleerd" (spirit) .For special liqueurs such as "Apricot Brandy" and "Cherry Brandy", specific rules on labelling of the used type of ethylalcohol are laid down in the (implementation-)Regulation EC/1781/91.
The description of the drink can be used as designation if it is sufficiently precise to inform the purchaser of its true nature and to enable it to be distinguished from other products with which it could be confused.
A distilled spirit that is mostly bitter but which also contains 100 grams of sugar per litre or more, can be labelled bitter or liqueur or both (according to the point of view of the European Committee and the verdict of a German judge in July 1998).
